CAL reveals deep cuts
(CNS): The country’s national flag carrier, Cayman Airways Ltd, has said that the airline faced revenue declines this year of more than 17% but as a result of deep cuts in operating expenses it has managed to offset those losses. Fabian Whorms, the airline’s chief executive officer, told Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday that by eliminating unnecessary spending and staff cuts it had made savings of around $10-12 million – money that it would have had to get from government to stay afloat had the cost savings not been made. Whorms explained that with the new board and a restructuring of the firm, CAL had begun to tackle what were dire circumstances when he took up his post as the airline’s boss.
He said that aside from an 11% cut in staff, the airline had also made significant savings by renegotiating aircraft leases, controlling capacity and reducing flight variables, and the firm had turned what could have been an unsustainable situation around. “Without these operational reductions things would have been completely unsustainable for the airline,” said Whorms, who admitted there was still some way to go but noted things could have been far worse.
The CEO revealed the details of the airline’s financial struggle when he attended PAC as a witness along with the board’s new chair, Jude Scott, and his chief financial officer, Paul Tibbetts.
Cayman Airways was cited in the State of Financial Accountability Reporting updates as never having submitted an annual report to the Legislative Assembly, despite being entirely government owned and receiving direct payment from government to run specific routes, which this year amounted to $10.5 million.
Whorms told the committee that of the many problems the airline faced, not least the fact he was the fifth CEO in as many years. Cayman Airways also had to have an external audit by private sector auditors as a result of its status as a commercial organisation.
Tibbetts explained that when it could, CAL employed the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers. But as a result of the airline’s financial constraints, he said, the PwC auditors could only work with it for a brief window each year as Cayman Airways could not afford to pay for their services in peak audit season.
“A chronic lack of funding has prevented us from being able to pay PwC, making continuous progress with the audits difficult,” Whorms told PAC, explaining that the Auditor General’s Office had to wait on the completion of the PwC audit before they could sign off on CAL’s books.
The CEO also cited distractions and difficulties for CAL, which included damage to the headquarters in Hurricane Ivan, the internal efficiency review by Lufthansa, cargo changes, new reservation systems, senior management turnover and a number of other issues, but he said the airline had made significant progress in reconstructing its accounts.
The problem of not being able to pay PwC, however, had delayed the airline’s annual reports, Whorms admitted but some accounts were now completed by PwC and they would be giving them to the AG this week. The airline’s goal, he added, was to have reports up to year end 2007 ready by September, which was some two years behind the gaol set by the PAC chairman for all of the government entities and statutory authorities.
Miller said PAC needed a commitment from the airline and wondered if they could work more with the internal auditors to move the work along when PwC was notavailable or to press the private sector firm over the need to get the work done and call in more favours.
“PAC has some serious concerns that statutory authorities that are so far behind on their accounts will be coming to Finance Committee next month asking members to vote for a significant subsidy without having shown us any accounts,” Miller said, reminding the airline bosses that they are accountable to the public.
Category: Headline News
Does the Chief Officer in the Portfolio of Finance who used to/maybe still is on the Board in an ex officio position still get free flights for herself and spouse? And the Chief Officer in the Tourism portfolio, also ex officio, does that person still get them? When there were attemts to reign these perks in a few years ago, those attempting to reign them in were thoroughly abused and villified.
Why did they ever give the Houston route away to Continental??? Clearly, the fact that Continental are doing this route means that there are some profits there, otherwise, why would they be doing it??? By giving that route away they lost out tapping into the west coast market
Your comment misses the point. Continental is a tough competitor. Typically you try to avoid such a large fierce competitor when you’re the little guy. CAL can’t even make money in Miami where you have another significant competitor. Ever wonder why Air Jamaica stopped flying to Miami? What I see most posters miss is that the US airlines don’t have to make money in Cayman. It’s a destination in demand by their customers. If they lose money in Cayman, they can adjust their schedule to the minimum needed, and make up the losses elsewhere. CAL doesn’t have that luxury. And CAL could cut their fares to $250 return including taxes if they wanted even though the taxes alone are over $100. Is the public willing to continue covering their growing losses when they can only earn $75 a flight? Have you checked the cost of gas lately? How much do you spend to fill your tank?
Where are u getting your information??? " CAL controls all other airlines prices."
Ugh wrong buddy!!! I am sure they wish they can get that kinda power.
Ya need to get your facts straight.
My family often get tickets from Cayman to Boston via Miami on AA for a total of US$300 p.p, but when you go from here to Miami it is US$400! That is just crazy!
I agree that:
A. Cheap flights, all them time (I will miss the empty flights I must say 🙁 )
B. There is no need for a lunch time flight from GCMto MIA. They should only offer morning and evening. And coming from MIA to GCM, should only be one flight in the late afternoon – there really isn’t a reason to have anymore.
I love to travel and would travel a whole lot more if flights were cheaper as that is usually the most expensive part of a vacation when you are a family of 3 or more!
Cayman Airways needs some sort of code-share arrangement with a large US airline. It would be great to use if you live near to Tampa, Miami, New York (or Chicago and Washington during the winter), but if you need to fly to that airport first, then it makes little sense to buy two separate tickets, with the attendant risks. Far better to book with one of theUS carriers on one ticket, and accept that you have to change planes in Newark, Atlanta, etc.
And exactly which airline would want to codeshare with CAL? Most of them already serve Cayman themselves or through another partner. Why bother getting into bed with CAL?
Maybe I missed it somewhere in the numerous responses but aren’t we shooting ourselves if we "encourage" locals/residents to fly off the rock cheaply? the main reasons for fly out are a) shopping or b) vacation.
$250 = ticket. $1000+ shopping. would that money not be best spent locally?
just seems we’re "helping" out one government entity at the expense of the larger community.
A few residents using their 350 shopping allowance isn’t gonna hit the government much. They only lose 77 bucks in duty and I bet the air tax is more than that. The resident loses 400 bucks on the flight. But it’s worth it to save paying the huge 200% profit margin charged by most local retailers.
By increasing the cost of flights they do lose out on is incoming tourists. there are many Caribbean resorts with much better tourist products than Cayman and most of them can be reached from Miami much cheaper.
I don’t go to shop, just for a quarterly exposure to civilization.
Spend it where???? Most shops are closed by 5:00 p.m during the week. A lot of shops have a stink attitude that they are doing you a fever rather than you being their customer! Try replacing some appliances. It takes 6 weeks before they get to the Island. You are better of to go to Miami and buy a wash machine there and ship it down.
Perhaps if the local shop owners would feel a bit more competition, they would adjust their opening hours, prices and attitude accordingly.
Fly to Denver….Colorado has the highest per capita SCUBA certified population than any other state AND Connecting flights to get from the west coast of the US to Cayman take 2 days.
Denver – West Coast? You do know where Colorado is in the map do you? I love those landlocked "West Coast" states.
PS You can leave Denver at 8am and be in Cayman by 7pm. 10 hours journey time (remember Mountain Daylight Time).
Just market– low fairs everday all year
Stop wasting money on marketing and advertising costs for speciaLS.
If a seat is available, it is yours, with no penalties etc.
Run it like People Express– a low cost , no frills airline
And they are still in business thriving today, right?
Cayman airways has been loosing for years nowm trying to compete with the "big boys" isnt the way forward. keep it simple, no food or drinks on miami flight etc is a start. review ALL the "FREE" and SPECIAL concession prices they have given staff AND family members. one girl i know brags so much she only pays something like 25 bucks to go miami as her husband is an engineer??? WTF? you wonder why its in shite state? lol
Your grammar and spelling sucks, but I agree with your point. EVERYONE who flies on CAL should pay. No exceptions.
Your comment about spelling and grammar sucks… but I agree with the rest of your post.
I am not the person you are responding to, but last time I checked we were here on CNS – not at school or work. And whether or not someone’s grammar and spelling were correct, they still managed to get the point across sufficient for you to understand and agree to it, so why not just agree rather than bring unnecessary negativity into your response?
Absolutely no benefits should be cut for the current staff at CAL! More than half of CAL’s staff makes UNDER $2,800 pm, so the least they can do is give them benefits.
Nobody, absolutely nobody except the pilots and senior managers are there for the money. These people love what they do and they do a damn lot of work, but yet they are paid crap, so the least CAL can do is give them benefits. Do you know what it’s like to go to work at 4:30 a.m. for 14 hours and take home $1,700 end of month? All staff travels on space available meaning they can only travel when the flt is empty, so CAL loses nothing. It would be going out with the empty seats anyway, so might as well let their suffering staff get a ride.
If they want to cut cost maybe they should stop giving the pilots a COLA every year. oops they are the only employees who have it in their contract, so they wouldn’t dare take that away from the $14,000 salary a lot of them get every month. Funny, up until last year the pilots and expats were the only employees with contracts. CAL needs to stop being so bias. All employees work just as hard if not harder than the pilots, but they are the ones who end up walking away without being paid overtime after working from 10 in the morning until 3 the next morning. Tell me why? Why do they steal from their employees, all except pilots of course?
· What CAL needs to do is stop giving politicians and board members free business class upgrades all the time
· Put Wendy Jackson back in HR. When she was the only person in HR she did a better job than the 3 or 4 they have there now.
· Retire people over 70.
· Stop giving retired employees and their families benefits.
· Take on routs that US Air, Continental etc are doing. Their flts are usually full
· Take on more part time employees for the departments that demand a lot of over time. Their mandatory hours for the week is 20 and they don’t get paid over time until they’ve past 40. It will take them far longer to do that than a full time employee
· Fly to Orlando in the summer even if you have to combined it with Tampa to fill the seats
Just to name a few.
And for all of you taking about taking away benefits don’t ever suggest that again. CAL staff works VERY hard and it cost the company absolutely nothing to give them. Their staff should have more benefits than their being given now with all the sh*t they have to go through.
Well Lets see! Maybe they could fire all the Pilots and run the airline without them.
You obviously are biased against the Pilots and clueless as to whatit cost a Pilot to recieve the qualifications necessary to fly airplanes safely.
FINALLY someone who gets it!! Why people killing the employees for "DISCOUNTED" tickets.
Cayman Airways have the lowest paid "government" employees, while there are children that just get out of school and work as receptionists and can pull in 2100 per month. Most of CAL employees not only have to work extra hard to pull that amount in but they get dogged on for a few benefits. And as many do not know the benefits were cut by more than half thisyear.
Whilst most government employees were given over 6% raise, CAL employees got a 3% raise months after.
But like you said not many people will know how hard it is until they actually work in an airline industry.
Pilots and management will always be favoured and be treated better then the other employees in the company that work hard for this business and are passionate about what they do.
Really well said. There are many hardworking and dedicated employees at Cayman Airways who have to take alot more stress and foolisness than many others would be willing to handle. They do deserve all of the benefits which they do recieve (which despite what many people think are not that much at all, considering what some of them make as a salary).
I for one am always proud to fly our national airline knowing the hard work and dedication that is put in by many of the employees. I encourage all of the hard working employees to keep up their good work, for some of us do realise what you put in, and it makes our traveling exeriences a pleasure.
It’s Ok for Civil Servants to be cut but not CAL. Get a life!!!!
Make it pay or get rid!
CAL employees still have to make their own pension and health insurance contributions, unlike civil servants who don’t have to make contributions.
Hmmmm…..
You certainly sound like a disgruntled employee of CAL…
Since it seems like you have all the facts, and I must admit that some of the ideas sound reasonable, but not everything you have said is factual.
Do you know for certain that pilots receive $14k monthly as a salary? I know I certainly do not, even after having been there for close to 20 years. And I have a contract which has my pay scale, and NO ONE, NO ONE makes $14k a month for flying.
As an employee, and I am guessing that you are by your post, are you aware that if there is unity within a body of employees, it is possible to have your own association (union), and form a contract with the company to ensure better working conditions and compensation. Get together with fellow employees, form a working association, have it registered, have the company recognize it, draft a contract and approach the company with it.
And remember onthat dark and stormy night over central Cuba at 35000ft, you"ll be glad to know that two of your Caymanian pilots are up front ensuring that you arrive home safely. I bet that when were getting bumped around at altitude, you’d be happy to pay me $14k…….
I once asked CAL through an FOI request to tell me what their CASM and RASM was and guess what response I got from their Execs!
First response. What is CASM and RASM?
Second response, when I explained what they were was, "We don’t provide that information." Why are people not demanding this information. Without it, the arguements for lower fairs, profitability are MOOT!
If the public (who subsidizes CAL) knew, then they would have trust that they were getting a fair deal.
At least the politicians should be asking that information!
FYI: For those that don’t know what CASM and RASM stands for, you can find the information here: http://web.mit.edu/airlinedata/www/Res_Glossary.html
Wow, thumbs down to the comment above. Really…we must have CAL playing on here, or maybe we actually have Politicians reading the board.
A thumbs down to asking for information releated to asking truly how much it costs CAL per ticket, and how much they are making (or not), and how much a seat truly costs. If you understood the cost, you (the public) would know if you were getting a good deal. CAL should operate at a break even point so at least people would come here and spend money!
Oh well, Banana Republic, all talk, no action, and an economically dying nation. Good luck trying to give away flights, no one will want to come here anyway in less than 2 years. Go ahead, continue to hide underneat your blanket, when you wake up, everything will be gone.
Talk to the banks, the BIG (and smart) money is leaving.
I agree that it is important to understand how much it costs to fly. Some time back I saw an CNBC documentary entitled Inside American where two flights were tracked – both left full and at the end of the flight one made a paltry profit of about $1,00 and the other made a loss. This gave me a good idea as to how hard it is to make a profit as an airline. But regardless we do need them.
Lets take at layman’s look at a CAL ticket to Miami. CAL now averages about US$350 including taxes to fly to Miami. Taking out Taxes this leaves us at US$250 return – two flights. Thus US$125 per segment/flight.
CAL planes hold 114 in economy but at non holiday times (most of the year) they probably sell about 40% of seats – say about 50 seats per flight.
50 times $125 = US$6,250 for that flight. My guess would be that fuel + maintenance costs + landing fees will probably surpass this amount. And we have not yet included the salaries of the staff flying; salaries of the reservation staff; check in staff; security staff costs; cost of the airline booking system,insurance, etc- all costs that can be attributed to that flight.
If each flight was full then this would equate to 114 time $125 = US$14,250 – at this level CAL may, may possibly be breaking even for the flight. Again this is my guestimate but given the numbers I do not believe it is unreasonable.
Lets see what happens then if they reduce the $125 by $50 – that is taking $100 off the return ticket. A full flight would bring in 114 times $75 = $8550 – we are back in loss making territory. Remember the fuller the flight the more fuel is needed, more staff may be needed, and the more costly the flight is.
But the fact is that given the percentage of the public that travel (especially in these times) it is unlikely that they will get more than 50% take up as an average. So they will likely actually sell (if lucky) 57 seats @ $75 = US$4,275 per flight. And remember this is not even including all the costs that can be attributed to that flight.
The moral my friends, if my simple assumptions above are correct, is that there is no such thing as a cheap tickets unless you are in the mass volume business – which CAL is not because they do not have the market, the number planes, nor sufficient routes. If with mass volume the major airlines are al losing money. We need to accept that whilst CAL needs to be lean and efficient they also need to charge a realistic amount for the ticket so that they can at least avoid the blood letting and minimise the losses. At the end of the day we will pick up the cost if CAL losses continue to increase.
We need CAL so lets stop beating them down for the actual cost to fly. I wonder what the price would be if we were at the mercy of American Airlines.
I quite like the empty flights myself and happily pay a little more if that means that no one else is joining me. And flying CAL is a real treat after flying in the old, packed AA and Continental flights. And Rum Punch when you board, seriously, genius.
Orlando has only shown high loads in the summer time for CAL. Do you not remember that it was once a year round flight? Why do you think it was then limited to summer time and then eventually discontinued all together???? BECAUSE IT WAS NOT PROFITABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAL could earn even more revenue over the Summer months if they would include the flights to Orlando especially during July- August each year. Like myself, many residents in the Cayman Is. owns timeshares in Orlando and would use the direct service (certainly folks like me, my family & friends would who are many) would definately chose it over Miami and Tampa.
CAL needs to address the real problem, an elite few at the top of the airline runs the airline and makes no concessions. The pilots and senior management penalize the other workers including the all vital safety engineers, cargo and ramp workers, who keep the airline in the air. The board needs to look at equality for all and not just maintaining an unfair contract the the union of pilots has forcefully put forward with the threat of quitting. There is much waste in the airline and much incompetence in management…this needs to be addressed. Realistic fares need to be set and then CAL may get the public’s trust back again and regain market segment….locals are travelling on other airlines as CAL has lost their trust and their business.
The marketing personnel are not experienced, there are no code-shares to bring additional passengers to the airline, there are few agreements that will benefit the airline in attracting passengers from other airlines, they are not a member of IATA and their frequent flyer program is a joke…you can never book a reward seat and you cannot use it on any other airline….these are the things that make a difference in attracting and maintaining passenger loyalty.
First of all the comments made about CAL cutting fares therefore being able to fill flights are obviously from persons who have never worked in the airline industry and DO NOT have any airline experience whatsoever. Believe it or not, CAL’s fares are as low and some are even lower than they should be just so to benefit the travelling public. Of course as Caymanians we expect that because the company is "Caymanian" it should be a charity and have fares anytime anyday for about 0.99 cents or less. We need to realize that as the airline industry and COMPETITION changes and grows CAL must do it also unless they will always be at the back of the pack. FYI- CAL matches all of AA fares as well as other carriers that service the same routes they do and vice versa. So to all who feel that CAL should be a not for profit organization and not even be given the chance to at least break-even, then go home this evening and do a little research for once and get your facts straight before making silly comments. Go onto each carrier that flies into Cayman website and compare with CAL when possible and see if the fares arent the same or at least close and then. I have done this before so therefore I can say that this is the truth.
appreciate your comments but if memory serves me correctly CAL controls all other airlines prices.Every now and then the others offer a special but that is only over a very limited time frame and is quickly shut down by CAL if I am correct so does not the dropping of prices all around not benefit Cayman in general?Getting the people here has always been a problem re pricing!!!One last point why do they jack up the prices over certain holidays and times of year?Yes I know what you will say to this and that it is traditional and is done all over the Caribbean especially at the winter time so why not try something a little different it surely cant hurt to try RIGHT?We need to think outside the box for a change and try other ways and means to attract STAY OVER VISITORS.(Your points are well taken)
Man you be smoking too much waccy baccy. How does Cal set the other airlines prices?
Yes the government sets airport fees for the other airlines but don’t for one second think they couldincrease other airlines fees without some comeback. The airlines pass all the fees on so less people would come here for holidays. Less people = less flights = even less people = even less flights…..you can see where this is going.
I believe that CAL is allowed to set the lowest price for airline tickets into and out of Cayman.
two things to point out is first CAL is critical when it comes to evacuating the country from a hurricane. That being said it has been known over the years as one of the bigest financial drains on the country.
Please! I wonder where you got such an idea from. I have never heard of such a thing, I am sure Cayman Airways wish they had such control. The other airlines are all free to charge whatever prices they wish.
it is simple, CAL need to stop trying to compete with the larger arilines. CAL should just be a air bus service with the cheapest fares possible. From Cayman to Miami should be USD$119 pluse tax .Fares should not be above USD$250 including tax. Get rid of the food service and drinks on short flight, you don’t need nothing to eat or drink if your flight in under 2 hours.
The motto shold be , cheap seats, short flights, on time. just saying
Agree!
But what food?
Lower airfares would also encourage more stay-over tourists for long weekends etc.
Peanuts and/or Pretzels. I must confess I thought these and a drink were a tad over the top for a flight of just over an hour!
I’ve always wondered why flights are $410 to fly to Miami. Before Ivan they used to be $150 … what is the justification for the massive increase in fares? There have been times that I have been on the CAL flight with 10 or so other people. How can cany company make a profit with those sort of numbers. Drop the fare to around the $200/$250 (incl taxes) and you’ll be amazed at how full the planes will be. For that price I would be prepared to book a weekend flight to Miami or Tampa every 4-6 weeks, compared to now where I only get off Island every 3 to 6 months.
Cheaper Fares, More passengers!!
Cut out the special priviledges of family members, past members, Politicians and current staff. Cost cutting across the board, will help tremendously. Cayman Airways needs to put on the Orlando flight from May – November too, you will be quite surprise with your volumn and capacity.
I agree with this one. How many hundreds of ex-flight attendants and other employees continue to fly for free? Lots! On top of that they use that privilege for their children and even worse they have the gall to use it for the benefit of their own businesses! No more free flights!
Hmm seems like I missed the boat on this then.
My mother was an employee and we never got free flights. I know we got a discounted rate but it was usually better just to pay the normal ticket and be confirmed than to be space-available.
If employees and their families are getting free flights then it needs to stop!
1. as far as I’m concerned every one in the world gets benefits with which ever company they work with, so why take away the lil bit of benefits CAL employees get??
2. NO ONE EXCEPT BOARD OF DIRECTION AND PILOTS FLY FOR FREE. so i dont know where the public is getin this information from. even us hard working people have to PAY
Well done CAL and more so your BOD’s.I have said for a long time and will continue to keep pressing this point(also mentioned by someone else on here today)that CAL needs to drop its fares and fill the planes with far less fares than we see each day.I am still trying to understand why we tax our own planes and charge landing fees.Is this not robbing Peter to pay Paul as the saying goes?I dont know what the landing fees are but surely we could off the same to the other airlines to encourage lower faresas well.Fuller planes will MORE than offset the fees dropped.We need to get the people here at that lower price and the spin off on island will again more than make up the loss in higher fees that we now keep charging.
Not sure if it still does this but A/A used to do a full page ad in the Miami Herald and it showed all the places and,prices charged, that they flew too in the Caribbean but Cayman was never mentioned.Wonder why that is/was?
Maybe stopping all the free flights to family members of employees would put more money in the coffers at CAL
One should really understand the airline industry before passing judgment. Those ‘family members / staff’ traveling are traveling on a space available ticket. In other words if there is a seat available then the ‘family member / staff’ is able to travel. It seems that some funds in the coffers is better than nothing which is what an empty seat represents.
Not to mention they still have to pay all taxes and fees. CAL doesn’t lose anything because the cost for the seat itself is free, but the seat would have otherwise been empty, and Government gets some revenue through taxes and fees. Employees and family members flying on CAL doesn’t lost the airline money and provides the Government with some revenue (provided of course that everything is done properly).
I have to agree with 11.34 100% i have no clue what CAL is thinking about cut your fares when fares are cut that mean more people will travel more people travelling mean more money. And when i say cut fares i dont mean like these specials that you guys have now that when you add the taxes that it almost works out to what the original price is thats no special.
Dear "DMA",
The first step to dealing with a problem, is to acknowledge ‘its’ existence.
Problems don’t arise overnight, they are often the result of growth over time, and as any capable Manager knows, hasty solutions can cause more harm than good if they are not planned and executed with care.
Mr. Whorms, Mr. Scott, and the existing BoD at Cayman Airways, have been able to what others before them have FAILED to do, and are displaying that, with the right kind of Leadership and Planning, this debacle of WASTE that our Govt. and Civil Service refuse to address, can be brought under control.
The common threads between both of these Gentlemen (that I know personally), are Integrity, Patriotism, Educational Background, and a vested interest in continued growth and success of our Islands.
Hats off to (all) them, maybe we can get them to run for Govt.?
CHEAPER FARES!! MORE PASSENGERS!!! MORE PROFIT!!!
EASY AS PIE!! NO ONE GETS THIS!!
The current solution high fares few passengers no profit.
Sometimes these planes be flying with little to no passengers on board.
would it not be better to lower prices and stop taxing the fares so that more people travel and more money in Government coffers!!! DUH!!
Yeah cheaper fares would be really attractive, and may well help to increase passenger loads. However, the majority of the costs in the tickets is for taxes, which are not in the control of the airline.
So they can try to set their price lower but there is still those taxes, all of which are not just going to our governement, there are also those taxes for the other destination to which you are flying to or from.
Are the Brac-Mia direct flights profitable or are we subsidising the Brac even more in these difficult times?
Are any of CAL flights profitable? Why highlight this one flight?
Because we are tired of forking out more tax and duty here to subsidise over there.
Well it seems to me CAL have set a better example making cuts, difficult decisions and coming up with results, than our government has managed to do in the last year.
"Fabian Whorms, the airline’s chief executive officer admits unnecessary spending."
In other words Mr. Whorms had been aware of unnecessary spending. I am just wondering how long this was / is going on under his leadership before he reacted?
I thought management and especially CEO’s should add value to the organization or they will be replaced in no time but that is only true on the private sector.
If you read the article further it states he’s the 5th CEO in as many years. Which means my friend, he hasn’t been in charge very long.
Dould DMA stand for DO MISUNDERSTAND ALL?????????????
He has been in the company for many years but has only been CEO for almost a year now.
less than 9 months actually
Wow thats admirable to save that much great job CAL.. It begs to add though before these trying times what were we doing? Spending like crazy just for the sakes of it! Government will give money so no problem spend it.. Times are changing and it is sad to see that we need difficult situations such as this to start to looking at how we were and are wasteful..